As the promise of pandemic relief comes with the news of vaccines on the way, health workers are urging people to keep up precautions against COVID-19. BC Nurses Union president Christine Sorensen says nurses are stressed and haven't had a chance to catch up as the second wave grows. Kathleen Ross, the head of Doctors of BC, says physicians are also feeling the added workload, but she emphasizes that people shouldn't avoid seeing their doctor or going to hospital over concern of burdening health workers. Mike Old, with the hospital employees union, says the second wave and the BC government's

A Canada Border Services Agency official testifying as part of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou's extradition case broke a court rule that asked her not to speak with anyone about the case while under cross-examination. A Crown lawyer told the BC Supreme Court that after testifying yesterday, Chief Nicole Goodman contacted a government lawyer with no connection to the case to ask a question about part of her evidence that might touch on an issue of privileged information. The judge hearing the case instructed Goodman to speak with a neutral lawyer appointed by the court. The court heard that the

Vancouver City Council has approved a revised start date of January 1, 2022 for the shopping bag and single-use cup by-laws. Businesses will now have an additional year to prepare for the ban on plastic shopping bags and requirement to charge fees for paper shopping bags, new reusable shopping bags and single-use cups. The City remains committed to reducing waste and litter from single-use items as we transform Vancouver into a zero waste community by 2040. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, local businesses are experiencing significant economic challenges and are working hard to

An octopus named after provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry is set to be released next week from an aquarium on Vancouver Island. Henry is a giant Pacific octopus who was brought to the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea for care in June. The aquarium says in a release that Henry has been particularly calm, just like Dr. Henry, during its time at the facility in Sidney. Henry is set to be released next Thursday in the area where it was found, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

British Columbia's top doctor says health-care workers in long-term care facilities and intensive care units will be the first to be immunized against COVID-19 with the Pfizer vaccine starting next week. Dr. Bonnie Henry says immunizations will happen at two clinics in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions, before eventually expanding to 30 sites as part of a process that will ramp up as more doses and vaccines become available. Up to 400,000 B.C. residents can get a shot in the arm by the end of March. Henry says prioritizing those who work at care homes will protect the eld

Five mink on a Fraser Valley mink farm have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans. The BC Ministry of Agriculture says the farm has been quarantined and testing to determine the genome sequence of the strain of virus continues. An outbreak was declared at the farm this week when several workers tested positive for COVID-19. Test results from five mink samples taken from a Fraser Valley mink farm have all been confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said then that the outbreak was concerning

The BC government says 194 tickets have been handed out in the last three and a half months to businesses or individuals who have broken the provincial health officer's orders on COVID-19. The tickets include three dozen 2,300 dollar fines to owners or organizers of gatherings or events. Another 142 people received 230 dollar fines for refusing to comply with the direction of law enforcement. The province formally extended its state of emergency yesterday, allowing officials to keep using extraordinary powers under the Emergency Program Act in response to the pandemic.

The City of Vancouver's 1.6 billion dollar COVID-19 response budget for 2021 has passed after nearly 139 million dollars in pandemic-related losses. Mayor Kennedy Stewart says the budget includes more money for overdose response efforts, supports for small businesses, as well as housing, sanitation and community policing. He says the budget also keeps property tax increases at five per cent and holds the city's largest line item, the police budget, to 2020 levels. Police chief Adam Palmer says he's disappointed the force asked for 322 million dollars to maintain current staffing levels and fi

There will be more information on the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines today with a briefing that includes provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry, Premier John Horgan and Health Minister Adrian Dix. Horgan tweeted yesterday that the first vaccine doses are just days away and about four-thousand high-risk people in B-C will be immunized by the end of next week. BC recorded 566 more cases yesterday and another 16 deaths. A statement from Henry and Dix says while it's encouraging the cases numbers are trending down, the number of people in hospital remains high and public health restrictions